Means for attaching heads to barrels



(No Model.)

T.. P. WALSH.

MEANS FOR ATTAOHING HEADS TO BARRBLS. No. 355,040. Patented De0.'Z8,- 1886.-

UNITED STATES PATENT @rrrce.

THOMAS P. WALSH, OF'SI RINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS.

MEANS FOR ATTACHING HEADS TO BARRELS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 355,040, dated December 28, 1886,

Application filed September 16, 1836. Serial. No. 213,720. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, THOMAS P. WALSH, a citizen ofthe United States, residing at Springfield, in the county of Hampden and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Means for Attaching Heads to Barrels, of which the-following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in means for securing heads in barrels, the object being to provide improved devices for so securing said heads in barrelsanrl casks that they may be removed and securely replaced without the aid of tools and without breaking or defacing said heads.

In the drawings forming part of this specification, Figure l is a vertical section of one end of a barrel without a head, and Fig. 2 is a similar View showing the head therein in section. Fig. Sis a perspective view in dotted lines of one end of a barrel, showing in full lines thereon a band and locking-clamp, said three figures illustrating barrel parts and clamping devices embodying my invention. Fig.4 is a View of a portion of the staves of a barrel, showing at the sides thereof the clamping device and the ends of the clamping-band attached thereto.

in the drawings, 3 indicates the barrelstaves, and 4, 5, and 6 the hoops of the barrel, which are fixed thereon. Said staves 3 are arranged to be openjointed between their ends at 7 as there shown by the heavy lines between them, when they are partly freed and allowed to spring outward to free the head 8 by loosening the circular clamping devices, as hereinafter set forth, said open-jointed feature also permitting the ends of the staves to be drawn inward against the edges of said head to secure the latter in the barrel.

To impart a desirable finished appearance.

to the barrel, the hoop 6 is secured in the position shown in Fig. 1 by suitable nails or pins, 9, to the staves. one at or nearest to the ends of the staves, but is not relied upon in any manner to hold the latter against the barrel-head in the construction herein shown, that service being performed by the below-described iron band or hoop and clamping devices connected therewith. The said hoop 6 must, therefore, be at- The said hoop is the tached to the staves of the barrel in such manner that the ends of the latter may have the requisite slight movement toward and from the edge of the head of the barrel, which is imparted thereto, first, by the action of said clamping devices to draw them inward, and,

secondly, by the spring action of the ends of the staves outwardly when released by said clamping devices, and the means by which said hoop is attached to the staves, whereby the aforesaid action of the latter is permitted within the hoop, consist in fixing in the latter pins 9, which pass through the hoop and penetrate the staves far enough to permit the ends the edge of the barrel-head they are at the same time drawn inward away from the inner side of the hoop 6 and have a movement on that part of said pins which projects inward from the latter, thereby carrying the end of the pin-socket in the stave away from the end of the pm, but leaving the latter still in engagement with the stave, and providing for letting the staves again springtoward the hoop' 6 when freed from the elarnping'devices, the staves in such movement having a motion on the ends of said pins within them. In the above-described construction the said movement of the ends of the hoop away from the inner side of the latter is less in extent than the length of the pin within the stave, and therefore said movement takes place without causing the end of the pin to be drawn out of its socket in the latter when the staves are clamped against the head.

The hoop 5, the upper one of those which are on what is termed the quarter of the cask, is, like hoop 6, somewhat loosely fitted to the cask, and is also attached to the latter by pins, as shown, for the reason that it surrounds the lower part of that jointed portion of the staves to which more or less motion is given by the clamping devices, as above set forth. The hoops 4 are driven on in the usual manner. 7

Below the chine part 10 of the cask is formed the usual projection, 18, on which the edge of the head 8 rests, and a portion of the way around the inner side of the cask, just above said projection 18, is formed a groove, 12, in which a part of the edge of the head engages, as shown in Fig. 2, and the opposite edge of the head is free to drop down against said projection, as shown in the last-named figure-that is'to say, when the end 'of the cask is free from the clamping devices.

The head 8 is formed, preferably, with a groove in its periphery, in which is placed a suitable packing-cord of hemp, rubber, or other similar yielding material, said packingcord being indicated in Fig. 2 by 13. If desired, however, when the cask is used for transportation'of dry merchandise, the head may be made without said groove and without a packing-cord.

The above-mentioned devices,which are employed for clamping the aforesaid ends of the staves of the barrel, in order to bind them against the edge of the head and to quickly free them, so that the head may be relieved and easily removed from the barrel, consist of an iron or other suitable band, 14, a clampinglever, 16, and a yoke, 15, in which said lever is pivoted, one end of said band 14 being secured toa cross-bar, 20, on said yoke, as shown in the drawings, and the other end being secured to a cross-bar, 19, on one end of said lever, the latter being hung by two studs, 17, thereon in one end of the yoke. Figs. 3 and 4 show said clamping-lever in a locked position, or that which it occupies when said band is tightly clamped around the ends of the cask, and when the band is released from the latter the free end of the lever 16 is swung toward the cross-bar 20 of the yoke 15, thereby carrying the cross-bar 19, to which one end of said band is secured, away from the cross-bar 20 of the yoke. Swinging the free end of the lever 16 in the opposite direction again tightens the band around the barrel. Said lever and yoke are made of any suitablestrong metal, and the band to which they are attached is placed on the cask between the hoops 5 and 6, as shown in Fig. 1.

The above-described'band 14, yoke 15, and clamping-lever 16, which constitute said clamping devices, remain permanently on the cask after having been once placed thereon between the hoops 5 and 6. To secure a. head in the cask by means of said devices, the head is placed in the end of the barrel with its periphery opposite the chine-groove while said .band 14 is in a loose position on the barrel,

and then to draw the staves against the edge of the head the free end of the lever 16 is swung toward the cross-bar 20 of the yoke, thereby clamping said band tightly around the cask, and causing the staves to be forcibly drawn against the head and the latter to be secured in said cask. To remove the head, said lever is swung in the opposite direction, loosening said band, and the head is lifted out by any convenient means.

What I claim as my invention is A cask having the staves open-jointed at one end, an end hoop, 6, attached to the ends of said staves by pins which permit a movement of the latter within the hoop, a suitable pro jection below the chine for the head to bear on, and a suitable head, combined with a band surrounding the cask below said'hoop, a yoke, 15, and a clamping-lever, 16, to which the ends of said band are secured, substantially as set forth.

THOMAS P. WALSH.

Witnesses:

H. A. GHAPIN, G. M. CHAMBERLAIN. 

